Rana Cobbin and Mia Slattery: Artists in Residence

Rana Cobbin and Mia Slattery, are a Palestinian mother and daughter duo, who have both lived in Ipswich for over 27 years.

They are multidisciplinary creatives whose collaborative practice is anchored in the rhythmic language of Tatreez—traditional Palestinian embroidery. Together, they bridge the gap between ancestral memory and the contemporary Australian landscape, exploring themes of displacement, identity, and the quiet power of cultural reclamation.

Rana Cobbin 

For Rana, Tatreez is a "living archive." After a long career in the corporate world, she rediscovered this tactile heritage as a way to mend the divide between her past and present. Each geometric pattern she maps is a preserved history, and every stitch serves as a deliberate act of memory, transforming fabric into a site of resistance and storytelling. A dedicated member of the Ipswich community, Rana views this residency as a homecoming—a space where her local roots intersect with her global heritage.

Mia Slattery

Mia Slattery is a community and cultural development-focused creative and founder of Kinected Creatives, who brings a deep commitment to cultivating kinship through community-focused services. As a birth and postpartum doula, Mia’s approach to art is inherently nurturing and facilitative. Through her business, Kinected Creatives by Kinected Collective Pty Ltd, she provides the structural heartbeat of their collaboration, serving as producer, event coordinator, and project photographer.

Residency

As Artists-in-Residence at the Ipswich Art Gallery in late November 2026, the duo is proud to host the Forest of Hope project - an interactive, evolving art installation created with and for the community. Developed through Products of Palestine, this residency invites the public to engage with the Forest of Hope as it grows and travels. By facilitating collaborative workshops, Rana and Mia create a space for dialogue where the meditative nature of needle-and-thread craft meets public discourse.

Beyond the embroidery, the residency explores the concept of "Hope" through a multi-sensory lens, incorporating food, music, the written word, and photography. Through this practice, Rana and Mia seek to facilitate a space of collective remembering, offering the Ipswich community a path to explore how we carry our histories with us, regardless of the distance traveled, and providing a medium for others to reconnect with their own lineages and find grounding in an ever-shifting world.